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Rob Weir wins foreign limitation case in Court of Appeal

Rob Weir is acting for three commercial divers who were injured in an accident in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). The parties agreed that the law of KSA applied to limitation but not which law, whether Shari'ah or Labour Law. At a preliminary issue hearing ([2009] PIQR P11, (2009) Lloyds Rep 359), the court found that the claims were not statute barred under KSA law and, if they were, the claimants were saved by section 2 of the Foreign Limitation Periods Act 1984. In Harleyand others v Smith and another [2010] EWCA Civ 78, the Court of Appeal allowed both the appeal and the cross-appeal with the result that the claims are governed by Shari'ah law and not statute barred. The claims are ongoing.